Fynbos, fire and rebirth

June 25, 2017

The fynbos plant kingdom is the smallest of this planets 6 plant kingdoms, and is endemic to the Western Cape province of South Africa. This is a fire driven ecosystem, requiring fires at varying frequency from every 5 years up to every 30 years. In a natural environment, most fires are caused by lightning strikes, but in the modern human intervention environment they tend to occur far more frequently then is ideal. In the Table Mountain National Park there are areas that burn every year, usually caused by cigarettes thrown from passing cars.

But, from these burned areas, new life erupts. Today we visited one such area, burned just over six months ago. New life abounds.